Fury as top cop who banned Jewish football fans from Aston Villa match handed £58k golden goodbye after quitting post

THE police chief who quit over the Maccabi Tel Aviv football scandal pocketed a £58,000 “golden goodbye”. Craig Guildford’s force used dodgy AI to justify banning Israeli fans for a game against Aston Villa. Police chief Craig Guildford quit over the Maccabi Tel Aviv football scandal but pocketed a golden goodbye Credit: Richard Vernalls/PA Wire Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she had lost confidence in Guildford’s leadership over the decision at Villa Park Credit: Alamy And he retired as chief constable of West Midlands Police in January days after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she had lost confidence in his leadership over the decision at Villa Park. Now the force has been asked to give “full justification” for handing him the cash. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! Labour peer Lord Austin said: “This is an appalling use of taxpayers’ money. “Craig Guildford should have been fired, not allowed to resign, after West Midlands Police capitulated to a bunch of racists, sectarian politicians and violent thugs and banned Jewish fans from Birmingham. “That money ought to be used to pay for police on the streets of the West Midlands.” Labour MP David Taylor called it a “reward for failure” and said “clearly he shouldn’t be handed a golden goodbye”. William Yarwood, campaigns director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, blasted: “A £58,000 loss-of-office payout will look to many like a golden goodbye for failure at a time when confidence in policing is already on the floor. “Police bosses must publish the full justification for this payment and prove taxpayers have not been forced to bankroll an establishment stitch-up.” Most read in The Sun Documents reveal Mr Guildford earned £221,000 a year. A Home Affairs Committee report concluded the force failed to speak to the Jewish community before banning Maccabi fans. Instead it relied on inaccurate AI-sourced hooliganism claims to justify it. Mr Guildford did not apologise when he retired but blamed his departure on a “political and media frenzy”.